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Jeopardy!
Jeopardy! is an American quiz show featuring trivia in history, literature, the arts, pop culture, science, sports, geography, wordplay, and more. The show has a unique answer-and-question format in which contestants are presented with clues in the form of answers, and must phrase their responses in question form. The show has a decades-long broadcast history in the United States since its creation by Merv Griffin in 1964. It debuted on NBC on March 30, 1964, and the series was part of the network's daytime lineup until January 3, 1975. On September 9, 1974, a weekly nighttime syndicated edition of Jeopardy!''debuted; this series ran concurrently with the NBC series until its final episode and continued to air on local stations until September 5, 1975. A revival of the daytime series debuted on October 2, 1978 and ran until March 2, 1979. All three of these versions of ''Jeopardy! were hosted by Art Fleming, with Don Pardo serving as announcer for the original NBC series, and John Harlan announcing the 1978 revival. On September 10, 1984, Jeopardy! returned as a daily syndicated series with Alex Trebek as host and Johnny Gilbert as announcer. This version of''Jeopardy!'' has been adapted for international markets. The current version of the show is produced by Sony Pictures Television (the successor company to original producer Merv Griffin Enterprises) and is distributed on television by CBS Television Distribution (the successor to original distributor King World Productions). Sony Pictures Home Entertainmentowns the rights to distribute the program on DVD, though it has only released a five-episode collection featuring some of the most memorable episodes of the current run. Jeopardy!'s 28th season premiered on September 19, 2011. Origins According to Merv Griffin, the idea for Jeopardy! began when he and his wife Julann were on a plane trip from Duluth, Minnesota to New York: I was mulling over game show ideas, when she noted that there had not been a successful "question and answer" game on the air since the quiz show scandals. Why not do a switch, and give the answers to the contestant and let them come up with the question? She fired a couple of answers to me: "5,280" – and the question of course was "How many feet in a mile?". Another was "79 Wistful Vista"; that was Fibber and Mollie McGee's address. I loved the idea, went straight to NBC with the idea, and they bought it without even looking at a pilot show.[7] Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories. Taking inspiration from horse racing, he also decided to add three "Daily Doubles," clues in which a contestant could wager his or her money. Griffin discarded his original name for the show, What's the Question?, after a network executive suggested that the game "needed more jeopardies. Gameplay Three contestants compete in three rounds: the Jeopardy! Round, the Double Jeopardy! Round, and the Final Jeopardy! Round. If there is a returning champion, he or she occupies the leftmost lectern from the viewer's perspective. 'Jeopardy! Round' Six categories are announced, each with a column of five trivia clues (phrased in answer form), each one incrementally valued more than the previous, ostensibly by difficulty. The subjects range from standard topics including history and current events, the sciences, the arts, popular culture, literature and languages,[9] to pun-laden titles (many of which refer to the standard subjects), wordplay categories, and even sets of categories with a common theme. The value of each clue within categories has increased over time (with Super Jeopardy! values in points rather than dollars): The contestant at the leftmost lectern from the viewer's perspective—the returning champion during non-tournament games—selects the first clue from any position on the game board, and the selected clue is revealed. The host then reads the clue, after which any of the three contestants may ring-in using a hand-held signaling device. The first contestant to ring-in successfully, following the host's reading of the clue, must then respond in the form of a question. A correct response adds the dollar value of the clue to the contestant's score, and gives them the opportunity to select the next clue from the board. An incorrect response or a failure to respond within a five-second time limit (shown by the red lights on the contestant's lectern) deducts the dollar value of the clue from the contestant's score and gives any remaining opponent(s) the opportunity to ring-in and respond. If none of the contestants give a correct response, the host reads the correct response and the contestant who selected the previous clue chooses the next clue.